The Bonded Pair
by DiRosso
Summary: The Kingdom of Taria uses dragons as tools for war. Feliciano bonded with one of the strongest dragons out there. His dragon is sworn to protect him, and he tries to protect her from capture. Fantasy AU with some Nyotalia.
1. Bonds

Dragons are no longer feared, as long as they're captured and used for army purposes. As long as you're on the side of the army with the dragons, there is nothing to be afraid of. In the Kingdom of Taria, wild dragons haven't roamed for fifty years. War had broken out, and the only way the kingdom were to survive, was to capture and use the beasts for military purposes. Even dragons bonded with humans were forced into captivity.

A dragon can bond with a human in two different ways. The first is when a dragon hatches from its egg and the human is the first thing they see. It is somewhat similar to how an animal can imprint on whatever creature it sees first, however, a dragon will not recognize the human as its mother. The dragon will see a companion. The second way is much more rare than the first, and is unexplainable. There have been times where a human and dragon lock eye contact, something in the dragon causes it to bond with the human. Regardless of both methods, the dragon will protect its human for the rest of their time in history, there are limited bonded pairs of dragons and humans outside the army. Many newborn dragons are bonded with soldiers and raised to fight. In everyday villages, any bonded pairs are usually with smaller dragons, incapable of fighting.

* * *

In the town of Venza, there was a young man whose smile apparently would make the sun shine brighter. Every week, he'd stop by each trader to purchase food for his family, and every day, he'd hand out any leftover food scraps to the many birds, cats, dogs, and even dragons that would wander. That was the only complaint people had about Feliciano. His generosity would attract "pests." But not many had the heart to be frustrated with him. Anyone who had a bone to pick with him would stop when he'd look at them with his soft amber eyes, which complimented his short auburn hair. They would see the innocence in him, and couldn't have the heart to scold him. They'd suggest he not hand much out, and they'd leave. Feliciano never seemed to listen, however. The man always had a soft spot for animals.

It was a day where Feliciano would stop at the meat traders, ran by a couple of brothers that grew up in another town. He noticed the older brother, Gilbert, was distressed and shouting what seemed like nonsense to his brother, Ludwig. He flailed about and Feliciano couldn't tell if he was scared, or excited. Gilbert was smiling, however.

"No, but I swear I saw it!" Gilbert shouted before he turned to see Feliciano listening in. His smile widened. "Feliciano! You're not going to believe what I saw hunting this morning!" He slammed his hands on the stand.

"What is it?" Feliciano asked as he leaned closer towards Gilbert.

"A dragon! Not one of those pipsqueak pests you keep feeding, but a big one!"

"No way!" Feliciano leaned closer. "How big was it?"

"Bigger than you, Lud, and me combined and multiplied!" he said. "Damn thing was terrifying though. Scared away my hunt. But when I got far away from it, I started to realize how cool it was to see a dragon not occupied by the kingdom! I want to know where it came from!"

Feliciano was excited to listen to Gilbert's story, but there was a thought haunting in his head. He wondered if the dragon was that big, and if it was a threat to the town. He remembered when he was little, his older sister would always tell him stories of dragons that could breathe fire and burn down buildings and destroy civilizations. He had only seen small and tame army dragons. None could breathe fire. But the dragon Gilbert saw was wild, so did that mean it was different from the rest? Feliciano made a note not to go near the wilderness until he knew the dragon was gone.

Gilbert saw Feliciano's concerned face and stopped talking. However, he didn't take it as worry. He took it as disbelief. "Well, if you don't believe me, I'll show you!" He jumped over the stand and grabbed Feliciano by the arm. "I know exactly where I saw it!"

Feliciano bit his lip. "Wait!" he exclaimed. "It's dangerous to go back out there if it's wild! It could kill us!"

Gilbert laughed and shook Feliciano with his free hand. "It's not like we're going to stand right where it can see us! I'm not _that _dumb." He looked over to Ludwig. "You can man the stand while I'm gone, right?" Ludwig only grumbled. "I'll bring Feliciano back in one piece you know." Ludwig grumbled again. "You can trust me!" His brother didn't make a sound. "Okay, good! Come on, Feli, boy!" With Feliciano stuck in Gilbert's locked grip, the two made their way back into the forest where Gilbert supposedly saw the dragon.

* * *

The sun shining up in the sky made the forest not even close to having an ominous feeling. Gilbert still had his lock on Feliciano's arm while they walked through. Gilbert wasn't worried about being stealthy, as he stomped on every twig and leaf, and he wouldn't stop talking to Feliciano about whatever was on his mind.

"He hardly talks anymore!" Gilbert whined. "I swear, Lud hasn't been the same since his wife left him. That was the reason why we moved to Venza in the first place! He could forget about her!"

Feliciano frowned. "Well, maybe he just hasn't had time to move on?" he asked.

"We've lived here for two years!" Gilbert exclaimed. "I don't get it! He's always been the tough guy who can brush almost anything off, but when his love life, which surprised the hell out of me that he actually had one, is gone, he turned into a mess!" Gilbert shook his head. "Maybe if he caught sight of another woman, he'd be fine again."

Feliciano hesitated to speak. "I don't think that always helps though."

"We won't know unless we try!" Gilbert started to laugh. "Speaking of women, how's that sister of yours doing?"

"She's been really happy lately! Her crops have been doing well in the market."

"Is that so? Has she been talking about me?"

Feliciano shook his head. "Only when she's irritated."

"That woman has spice in her," Gilbert muttered. "One day she'll come around. I'm positive of that!"

Feliciano was about to speak in defense of his sister, only to freeze in place at the sound of a roar he had never heard before. It was loud and possibly earth-shattering.

"We're getting close!" Gilbert said happily as he started to run closer to the roar.

"Gilbert, wait!" Feliciano called out. "Why can't we stay here where it's safe? You promised!"

"We will still be safe if we move a bit!" GIlbert replied. Feliciano continued to protest GIlbert's actions, but with him in Gilbert's tight hold, he fell under deaf ears up until Gilbert stopped in front of a cave, and ducked under a fallen tree.

"Is this-?" Feliciano gulped as he trembled at the sight of the cave. "Where the dragon lives?"

"I'm sure of it," Gilbert said. "It's around here where I saw it. I'm sure it'll come out in time."

"How do you even know it's in there?"

"Call it a hunch."

Feliciano shook rapidly as he and Gilbert waited for the dragon. He felt as if his life would be over that day, and he wasn't ready for that. Gilbert wasn't holding onto him any more, so he could run away, but fear kept him locked in place. The ground shook as another roar flew through the sky. Feliciano shouted in fear, and finally, his feet were able to move far away from the cave. Gilbert freaked out and tried to run after Feliciano.

Feliciano's vision was blurred as he tried to navigate through the forest to get back to the town, where he would be safe. He knew it was a bad idea to let Gilbert bring him to death's door. Unfortunately, the roaring grew louder, and before he knew it, he was thrown back by a sudden gust of wind onto a tree. Feliciano screamed for help, and hoped Gilbert, or someone else, could hear him.

In a blink of an eye, Feliciano saw a large reptilian creature land in front of him. He knew it had to have been the dragon, even when he couldn't get a good look at it. He was too busy cowering in fear, and counting the last minutes of his life. The dragon was in front of him, its head above his. It let out another roar, and Feliciano started to cry.

"Please!" he screamed in hopes it would understand him. "Please I'm too young to be eaten! I didn't even want to disturb you! I'm so sorry! Please don't eat me!"

Feliciano looked up at the dragon as he faced his final moments. Much to his surprise, the dragon had not tried to attack. It only looked down at him and snarled. It wasn't even close to being as big as Gilbert described. Perhaps it was bigger than him, Gilbert, and Ludwig combined, but not multiplied. Its dark green scales glimmered in the sunlight. It's horns, fangs and claws, despite terrifying, looked pearl-white, as if nothing ever touched them before. Then Feliciano looked at the dragon's eyes. He had never seen a dragon with blue eyes before. But that wasn't the only thing about the dragon's eyes that shocked him. The dragon was looking right into his as if it were hypnotized.

The dragon stopped snarling and backed away a little to lower its head so it was at length with Feliciano's. Feliciano thought this was how dragons would taunt its prey.

"Just please let me live!"

The dragon stood motionless for a moment, before its eyes closed and rubbed its head against Feliciano's in a loving manner.


	2. Getting to Talk

Gilbert cussed frantically as he ran down to where he saw the dragon fly. He was sure it was after Feliciano, and he was sure he'd be ripped to shreds when he got back home, just like how he assumed Feliciano would be when he found him. It didn't take him too long to catch sight of the dragon once more, and he didn't stop to think of a strategy to not get eaten. Instead, he continued to charge into his possible death.

However, when he saw the entire dragon, he also saw it nuzzling up against Feliciano. The puzzling action stopped Gilbert in his tracks. He watched how the dragon was gentle and delicate without any signs of hostility, and he heard Feliciano laughing. Gilbert only watched a few minutes before marching over by the two.

"Hey!" he shouted. "What in the hell is going on here?"

Feliciano looked over to see Gilbert, and his smile widened. However, the green-scaled dragon snapped out of its peaceful manner, moved its head above Gilbert, and snarled. Gilbert jumped and stepped back. He didn't expect the dragon to still be vicious after the affection it displayed on Feliciano.

"Stop!" Feliciano called out to the dragon as he touched its side. "Gilbert is a friend, and he won't hurt you or me!" The dragon didn't listen, and its snarls grew louder. Feliciano panicked, and ran over to Gilbert. "No!" he called out again. "He's not dangerous!" Feliciano looked up at the dragon with worried eyes. Gilbert just stood behind Feliciano, more confused than frightened. The dragon continued its intimidating glare for a brief moment, before it lowered its head, and backed down. Feliciano smiled and patted the dragon's nose. "I think you worry too much!"

Gilbert looked back-and-forth between Feliciano and the dragon as he tried to figure out what had just happened. He was sure this dragon was wild, and had never had contact with humans before. Alongside that, Feliciano was frightened to come up to see if it was actually there, but now he touched, smiled, and talked to it as if they had known each other all their lives. Feliciano turned to face Gilbert, but seemed to not notice the puzzled look on his face.

"Gilbert, look!" he said as he petted the dragon again. "The dragon's really friendly with me!" The dragon bumped Feliciano's chest with its nose. "I don't know why either. Earlier, I was sure it was going to eat me. But something happened, and it just stopped."

"It stopped?" Gilbert asked. Feliciano nodded. "That's different."

"Do you know why?" Feliciano questioned as the dragon kept close to him.

Gilbert shook his head. "Not really. But ask someone in the army and they might know."

"But there's nobody in town that is in the army."

Gilbert hesitated for a moment before he disagreed with Feliciano. "Actually, Lud used to be in the army."

"No way!" Feliciano shouted in excitement. "Of course, that might make sense, I mean he's so big and strong, it would be shocking if he was never enlisted!"

"Yeah, but remember, he hardly talks." A smirk grew on Gilbert's face. "Though hearing about this dragon might get him talking again. Come on, kid."

Feliciano nodded. He faced the dragon and said, "I will be back when I can," before he walked back to the town with Gilbert.

The dragon, however, did not listen to Feliciano, as when Feliciano started to walk away, it followed closely behind. Feliciano tried his hardest to keep it in the woods, but it refused to stay. Feliciano looked at Gilbert in concern and wondered if the townspeople might be afraid of a dragon that big walking around.

"As long as you're safe, it won't go berserk," he guessed. "Everyone will probably assume it's an army dragon bred to be an escort.

Walking into town with a large dragon did cause a bit of a stir. Rumors spread like wildfire as people tried to figure out why exactly a dragon walked around with Gilbert the meat merchant, and Feliciano, the brother of a farmer woman, who never seemed to show any strengths except that he could make people smile. It was lucky nobody tried to approach them. From the sight of his stand in the market, Gilbert sprinted over to tell the good, yet strange news to his brother, Ludwig.

* * *

"You're not going to believe what happened in the woods!" Gilbert shouted, which brought on more attention than needed.

Ludwig looked at his brother in suspicion. "Where's the kid?"

"That's the thing!" Gilbert shouted. "That's what you won't believe! We saw the dragon, and I was sure Feliciano was going to get eaten, but he didn't!" Ludwig gave him a look which meant for his brother to keep talking. "The dragon loves him or something! It was rubbing up against him, and even tried to protect him when I showed up! It even followed us here!"

Ludwig looked away from his brother to see if his story was true. Much to his surprise, he saw Feliciano, who walked casually toward the stand with the dragon Gilbert mentioned. His jaw dropped slightly at the sight. Feliciano saw Ludwig and waved frantically.

"Ludwig!" Feliciano called out before he ran to the stand. The dragon didn't even need to pick up its walking speed to keep up with him.

"What the hell?" Ludwig mouthed as he saw the pair move closer and closer.

Feliciano stopped running as soon as he was near the stand. "Ludwig! I have a dragon!" Ludwig was in such a shock, he couldn't even reply. This was fine with Feliciano, since his exciteness kept him with a lot to say. "I don't know why, but its always wanting to be around me! Gilbert said you were in the army, and might know why this is! Do you know?"

Ludwig studied the dragon's movements closely. It wasn't hostile, but it kept looking out for possible threats. And just as Gilbert stated, it wouldn't leave Feliciano's side. There wasn't any chains to keep it from leaving as well.

"Have you ever seen this dragon before?" Ludwig asked.

"Nope!"

"What about a dragon egg? Maybe when you were younger?"

"Not at all!"

Ludwig looked as puzzled as Gilbert was. "Gilbert said it was going to attack you, but it didn't. What did it do when it stopped?"

Feliciano thought for a moment. "Well, it was ready to attack, and for some reason, it took a long time. I figured it was wondering if I would taste good raw. I don't think I would. But anyway, I looked up, and saw it was looking down at me. And wow, it has eyes that are like gemstones and-"

"You looked into its eyes?" Ludwig's yelled.

Feliciano jumped. "Yes! Was that bad? I won't turn to stone, right?"

Ludwig bit his lip. "No. You won't." He looked back at the dragon. "What you just said is shocking."

"Hm? Why?"

"Because what you told me is that through eye contact, you and this dragon bonded."

Feliciano gasped and his smile widened. "Really? You mean this dragon is now a partner to me, like how the army dragons are partnered with soldiers?"

Ludwig nodded. "Only you're not a soldier. And if you want to keep it that way, you better make sure when the recruiters come into town, that dragon is hidden. It's big, and looks frightening. They'll do anything for more dragons like that one."

Feliciano nodded in agreement. "Okay. But it won't leave my side."

"You have to train it so it'll know when to stay put. If you can get it to not hurt you or others, then you know it's trainable." Ludwig studied the dragon closer. "How much do you know about dragons?"

"Not much."

Ludwig sighed. "Then that means you probably don't even know its sex."

"Not at all."

"That's beneficial to know." Ludwig got up from his chair and carefully walked towards Feliciano and the dragon. "I'll show you how to figure that out." Ludwig motioned Feliciano to follow him behind the dragon, which immediately, it disproved of. The dragon snarled and whipped its long tail around frantically. "Make it stop!" Ludwig commanded.

Feliciano called out, "Stop! We won't hurt you!" He went back to the dragon's front and lightly placed a hand on its chest. "It'll be okay." The dragon looked down at the boy, and with one glance, stopped moving. Feliciano smiled. "Thank you!" He ran back to Ludwig's side.

"A dragon sees its backside as a weak point," Ludwig said as Feliciano made his way back. "That's why their tails have strong muscles to stop any harm." Ludwig crouched down, and made Feliciano do so. "If you weren't next to me right now, your dragon would have tried to kill me. Because you're bonded with it, it immediately trusts you. As long as you do exactly as I do, I will not be seen as a threat." The two crawled along the ground under the dragon carefully. Ludwig looked up at the dragon for a moment, and tapped Feliciano.

"What?"

"See that up there?" Ludwig asked as he pointed upwards.

"Yeah, I do."

"Your dragon is female."

"No way!" Feliciano called out. "That's amazing!"

Ludwig maneuvered so he and Feliciano could crawl back from under the dragon. "Okay, so you have a female dragon. Female dragons are much more protective than males when it comes to partners."

Once they got up, Feliciano immediately went to the front of the dragon again, and pet her chest. "Well who knew that the special lady in my life would be a dragon!" he joked.

Ludwig rolled his eyes and glanced over at Gilbert, who was now talking to everyone in sight about how Feliciano had bonded with a dragon. "Just remember to take good care of her. I can help you at first, but I won't constantly hand-feed you information. She's your dragon, not mine."

"Okay, okay!" Feliciano chirped. He looked at his dragon, and then back at Ludwig. "Which reminds me, Gilbert said that almost all soldiers had a dragon. If you were in the army, where's your dragon?"

Ludwig scowled. "I think you should go home, kid. It's getting late."


End file.
